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Did Rey become the raw opt One inStar war : The cost increase of Skywalker ? When George Lucas launched the prequel trilogy with 1999’sStar Wars : Episode I - The Phantom Menace , he re-explain the intact saga as being oriented around Anakin Skywalker . To emphasise the compass point , he added a raw Messianic element to the dealership , a mysterious prophecy of a Chosen One who would be bear of the Force .
Although Lucas has always insistedStar Warsshould not be seen as spiritual , he has still thread upon religious idea when regulate his universe . " I see Star Wars as read all the issues that faith represents and trying to distil them down into a more modernistic and easy accessible conception , " he explained in an audience withTime Magazineback in 1999 , " that there is a outstanding enigma out there . " Lucas had traditionally suck up more upon Buddhist construct , but the Chosen One is understandably inhale by Christianity , flop down to a Virgin Birth . The construct took viewers by surprise , feeling as though it was thematically at odds with the wider franchise .
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There ’s a sense in which that struggle is the key to sympathise the Chosen One vaticination . In Lucas ' prospect , all religion should have room for mystery , and this vaticination was therefore a smart way of telling consultation there is far more to the Force than they have previously empathise . He by design avoided giving the text of the Chosen One vaticination , thereby advance acute debate between fan as to whether Anakin was the select One in the first place , and just how he fulfilled it . By now however , thanks largely to tie - indium , fans actually do have a fairly near idea of what it entail to be the Chosen One — and that agreement has profound implications forStar war : The ascension of Skywalker .
The Chosen One In Star Wars Before Rise of Skywalker
The actualtext of the Chosen One prophecyremained a mystery until last yr , when Lucasfilm publish Claudia Gray ’s excellent novelMaster & Apprentice . This is set shortly beforeStar Wars : Episode I - The Phantom Menace , and it focalise upon Qui - Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi - Wan Kenobi . Qui - Gon is an enigmatical digit even among the Jedi , one of wanted few Jedi to have studied ancient prophecies that seem to actually predate the Order . In the book , Qui - Gon becomes aware some of these prognostication seem to be being fulfilled in his front , and they place to the birth of the Chosen One .
" A Chosen One shall come , " some ancient Force - user foretold , " born of no Padre , and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be fix . " The transience is actually important , because in mystical textbook , you have to interpret every single word with care in ordination to by rights understand it . The term " balance in the Force " is particularly odd , and it was only clear up inGreg Rucka ’s novelGuardians of the Whills . This included a quote from an esoteric Force group shout the Ascendants of Mau , who provided the first ever definition of balance inStar Wars .
" The present moment between breath
Is the balance of the Force .
Between life and death ,
Rest and action ,
Serenity and heat ,
Hope and desperation . "
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If this quote is right — and , at nowadays , it seems to be — then balance is a momentaneous thing , as ephemeral as " the moment between breaths . " The Chosen One may bring " ultimate " balance in the Force , then , but logically he will not bringlastingbalance , because that is a contradiction in terms in terms . TheStar Wars : The Last Jedi Visual Dictionaryconfirmed this interpretation , with Pablo Hidalgo , an important member of the Lucasfilm Story Group , notingAnakin brought balance to the Forcewhen he toss off Palpatine . According to Hidalgo , the Sith themselves were the source of the great asymmetry , and their destruction was the fulfilment of the Chosen One prophecy .
What Palpatine’s Return In Rise of Skywalker Meant For The Chosen One
" The dreary side of the Force is a footpath to many abilities some weigh to be unnatural , " Palpatine declare inStar warfare : Episode III - Revenge of the Sith , and repeated inStar war : The Rise of Skywalker . Principal among these is the ability to conquer demise , a power the Sith have long stargaze of attaining and that Palpatine himself had dominate . He had learned the long - forgotten great power called Essence Transfer , that allow his spirit to have another host at the moment of demise . Thus Darth Sidious himself became the unbalance in the disconsolate side , because he could establish a Sith Empire that would never stop , ruling as an Emperor who would never truly die .
The Emperor ’s cognition of Essence Transfer put up new context for the fatal concluding confrontation inReturn of the Jedi . Note the parallel betweenReturn of the JediandStar Wars : The ascension of Skywalker ; in both film , the Emperor encourages someone to run into him down in rage . This is because inwardness Transfer only seems to work if the possible host is under the influence of the benighted side at the clip of the Sith Lord ’s decease . Palpatine ’s twit to Luke inReturn of the Jedishould , therefore , be seen asthe Emperor ’s attempt to persuade Luke to kill him in anger , so his intent would be free to possess the Word of the pick out One .
The battle on the Second Death Star was a gob , and Anakin Skywalker ’s salvation was the only way out of it . If Palpatine had been vote down in anger , whether by Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker , then his spirit would have been immediately able to possess a new host . But while Anakin did kill Palpatine , he did so under the influence of the light side of the Force , redeem by Luke ’s faith in him . All the Emperor ’s strategy came to nothing , and he choke what should have been a final decease .
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It was n’t , of class . Palpatine had allied with Sith cultists on the ancient Sith redoubt of Exegol , a planet long lost in the depth of the Unknown Regions . Exegol is a unique world , one where the veil between life and death is flimsy , and there the cultists had been able-bodied to do a ceremonial occasion that summon the Emperor ’s spirit from the beyond to own a clone body . It ’s tempting to conclude this somehow invalidates Anakin ’s achievement , but that is n’t really the right interpretation . Star warfare : The climb of Skywalkeritself confirms Anakin really did bring balance to the Force , courtesy of a brief content from Anakin ’s Force Ghost . " Rey , " Anakin Skywalker called out . " Bring back the balance , Rey , as I did . " Anakin succeed in his mission , the Emperor really did die , and thus he really did bring back the balance . The Sith , however , shaft destiny through another substance . That should not be seen in any way as undermining Anakin ’s redemptory victory on the Second Death Star . It should hardly be a surprisal to learn the Sith did n’t play by the principle , and rather attempted to find a direction to cheat the divination .
Does The Rise of Skywalker Make Rey The New Chosen One?
This , of course of instruction , raises an intriguing question ; is Rey the new select One ? Strictly speaking , the answer is no . There are two constituent to the prefer One prophecy ; their parentage , and their mission . The Chosen One is a specific individual who shall be " bear of no founder . “Rey ’s don may have been a failed clon of Palpatine , but he was a forefather nevertheless , and thus Rey can not play the criteria to be call the choose One . Rather , it is still the case that the one and only Chosen One is Anakin Skywalker , a being who was conceived by the will of the Force itself , and who had no father .
But Rey does partake themissionof the Chosen One , as indicated by Anakin ’s words on Exegol . Like Anakin , she was tasked with destroying Darth Sidious , the capital of the Sith , the one who was himself an asymmetry in the Force . It ’s interesting to note the Chosen One himself was need in that battle in two ways , not just one . Anakin ’s voice was utter to Rey , encouraging her , guiding her along with those of the other Jedi . And , importantly , she was wielding his previous lightsaber . A lightsaber is no average arm ; it contains a kyber crystal , anda Jedi bonds with their lightsaberand the kyber crystal hold within it . Thus that lightsaber contained a part of Anakin ’s spirit , a hint of his world power in the Force . That is presumably why Rey hear the blade calling to her inStar Wars : The Force Awakens : because the part of Anakin Skywalker within it feel she too was fate to stand against the darkness . Arguably , then , Anakin ’s twofold presence evoke the Battle of Exegol is just an extension of the opt One prognostication , a 2d fulfillment of it if you will . " Through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored , " the prophet declared , and that was still the face on Exegol . Rey was simply Anakin ’s champion .
Anakin Skywalker died bringing balance to the Force , but Rey destine to do something that may well be even more hard ; to live on for it . According to Lucasfilm , this is what it means to be a Skywalker : to be an agent of counterbalance . " I like the idea that she ’s live on to be our Skywalker , but she ’s not a Skywalker , " Lucasfilm ’s Pablo Hidalgo noted in a meeting of the Story Group transcribed inThe artistry of Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker . " Then , for our purposes , ' the Skywalker ' is really a metaphor . It does n’t have to be something that ’s directly get in touch to blood . " ThusStar Wars : The Rise of Skywalkerends with Rey take Anakin ’s surname as her own , engraft herself into the law of continuation of his mission . She is a Skywalker , but she is not the choose One ; she lives for the Chosen One ’s mission , even though she does not share his origin . It ’s in reality quite a canny room of bringing theStar Warsstory full rotary — even if it was n’t handle terribly well .
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